《梦想与责任：奥巴马开学演讲》中英文对照演讲稿.pdf

梦想与责任：奥巴马开学演讲Hello,everybody!Thank you.Thank you.Thank you,everybody.All right,everybody go ahead and have a seat.How is everybody doing today?(Applause.)How about Tim Spicer?(Applause.)I am here with students at Wakefield HighSchool in Arlington,Virginia.And weve got students tuning in from all acrossAmerica,from kindergarten through 12th grade.And I am just so glad that all couldjoin us today.And I want to thank Wakefield for being such an outstanding host.Giveyourselves a big round of applause.(Applause.)大家好！谢谢你们。谢谢你们。谢谢你们大家。好，大家请就坐。你们今天都好吗？掌声蒂姆斯派塞Tim Spicer好吗？掌声我现在与弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡韦克菲尔德高中的学生们在一起。美国各地从小学预备班到中学 12 年级的学生正在收听收看。我很快乐大家今天都能参与。我还要感谢韦克菲尔德高中出色的组织安排。请为你们自己热烈鼓掌。掌声I know that for many of you,today is the first day of school.And for those of you inkindergarten,or starting middle or high school,its your first day in a new school,soits understandable if youre a little nervous.I imagine there are some seniors outthere who are feeling pretty good right now-(applause)-with just one more year togo.And no matter what gradeyoure in,some of you are probably wishing it werestill summer and you couldve stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning.我知道，今天是你们很多人开学的日子。对于进入小学预备班、初中或高中的学生，今天是你们来到新学校的第一天，心里可能有点紧张，这是可以理解的。我能想象有些毕业班学生现在感觉很不错掌声还有一年就毕业了。不管在哪个年级，你们有些人可能希望暑假更长一点，今天早上还能多睡一小会儿。I know that feeling.When I was young,my family lived overseas.I lived in Indonesiafor a few years.And my mother,she didnt have the money to send me where all theAmerican kids went to school,but she thought it was important for me to keep upwith an American education.So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself,Monday through Friday.But because she had to go to work,the only time she coulddo it was at 4:30 in the morning.我了解这种感觉。我小时候，我们家生活在海外。我在印度尼西亚住了几年。我妈妈没有钱送我上其他美国孩子上的学校，但她认为必须让我接受美式教育。因此，她决定从周一到周五自己给我补课。不过她还要上班，所以只能在清晨四点半给我上课。Now,as you might imagine,I wasnt too happy about getting up that early.And a lotof times,Id fall asleep right thereat the kitchen table.But whenever Id complain,my mother would just give me one of those looks and shed say,“This is no picnic forme either,buster.(Laughter.)你们可以想见，我不太情愿那么早起床。有很屡次，我趴在餐桌上就睡着了。但每当我抱怨的时候，我妈妈都会那样地看我一眼，然后说：“小子，这对我也并不轻松。笑声So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school.But Im heretoday because I have something important to discuss with you.Im here because Iwant to talk with you about your education and whats expected of all of you in thisnew school year.我知道你们有些人还在适应开学后的生活。但我今天来到这里是因为有重要的事情要和你们说。我来这里是要和你们谈谈你们的教育问题，以及在这个新学年对你们所有人的期望。Now,Ive given a lot of speeches about education.And Ive talked aboutresponsibility a lot.我做过很屡次有关教育问题的演讲。我屡次谈到过责任问题。Ive talked about teachers responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you tolearn.我谈到过教师鼓励学生并催促他们学习的责任。Ive talked about your parents responsibility for making sure you stay on track,andyou get your homework done,and dont spend every waking hour in front of the TVor with the Xbox.我谈到过家长的责任，要确保你们走正路，完成家庭作业，不要整天坐在电视前或玩 Xbox 游戏。Ive talked a lot about your governments responsibility for setting high standards,andsupporting teachers and principals,and turning around schools that arent working,where students arent getting the opportunities that they deserve.我屡次谈到过政府的责任，要制定高标准，支持教师和校长的工作，彻底改善不能为学生提供给有时机的、教育质量差的学校。But at the end of the day,we can have the most dedicated teachers,the mostsupportive parents,the best schools in the world-and none of it will make adifference,none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities,unlessyou show up to those schools,unless you pay attention to those teachers,unless youlisten to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work ittakes to succeed.Thats what I want to focus on today:the responsibility each of youhas for your education.然而，即使我们拥有最敬业的教师，最尽力的家长和全世界最好的学校如果你们大家不履行你们的责任，不到校上课，不专心听讲，不听家长、祖父祖母和其他大人的话，不付出取得成功所必须的勤奋努力，那么这一切都毫无用处，都无关紧要。这就是我今天讲话的重点：你们每个人对自己的教育应尽的责任。I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.Every single one of youhas something that youre good at.Every single one ofyou has something to offer.And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is.Thats theopportunity an education can provide.我首先要讲讲你们对自己应尽的责任。你们每个人都有自己的长处。你们每个人都能做出自己的奉献。你们对自己应尽的责任是发现自己的能力所在。而教育能够提供这样的时机。Maybe you could be a great writer-maybe even good enough to write a book orarticles in a newspaper-but you might not know it until you write that English paper-that English class paper thats assigned to you.Maybe you could be an innovator oran inventor-maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or the newmedicine or vaccine-but you might not know it until you do your project for yourscience class.Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a Supreme Court justice-but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.你或许能成为一名出色的作家甚至可能写书或在报纸上发表文章但你可能要在完成那篇英文课的作文后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名创新者或创造家甚至可能设计出新一代 iPhone 或研制出新型药物或疫苗但你可能要在完成科学课的实验后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名市长或参议员或最高法院的大法官但你可能要在参加学生会的工作或辩论队后才会发现自己的才华。And no matter what you want to do with your life,I guarantee that youll need aneducation to do it.You want to be a doctor,or a teacher,or a police officer?You wantto be a nurse or an architect,a lawyer or a member of our military?Youre going toneed a good education for every single one of those careers.You cannot drop out ofschool and just drop into a good job.Youve got to train for it and work for it andlearn for it.不管你的生活志向是什么，我敢肯定你必须上学读书才能实现它。你想当医生、教师或警官吗？你想当护士、建筑师、律师或军人吗？你必须接受良好的教育，才能从事上述任何一种职业。你不能指望辍学后能碰上个好工作。你必须接受培训，为之努力，为之学习。And this isnt just important for your own life and your own future.What you make ofyour education will decide nothing less than the future of this country.The future ofAmerica depends on you.What youre learning in school today will determinewhether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.这并非只对你个人的人生和未来意义重大。可以毫不夸大地说，教育给你带来的益处将决定这个国家的未来。美国的未来取决于你们。你们今日在校学习的知识将决定我们作为一个国家是否能够迎接我们未来所面临的最严峻挑战。Youll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and mathto cure diseases like cancer and AIDS,and to develop new energy technologies andprotect our environment.Youll need the insights and critical-thinking skills you gainin history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness,crime anddiscrimination,and make our nation more fair and more free.Youll need thecreativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies thatwill create new jobs and boost our economy.你们将需要利用你们通过自然科学和数学课程所学到的知识和解决问题的能力来治愈癌症、艾滋病及其他疾病，开发新的能源技术和保护我们的环境。你们将需要利用你们在历史学和社会学课堂上所获得的知识和独立思考能力来抗击贫困和解决无家可归问题，打击犯罪和消除歧视，使我们的国家更公平、更自由。你们将需要利用你们在所有课堂上培养的创造力和智慧来创办新公司，增加就业时机，振兴我们的经济。We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and yourintellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems.If you dontdo that-if you quit on school-youre not just quitting on yourself,youre quittingon your country.我们需要你们每个人发挥你们的聪明才智和技能，以便帮助老一辈人解决我们面临的最棘手问题。如果你们不这样做，如果你们辍学，你们不仅仅是自暴自弃，也是抛弃自己的国家。Now,I know its not always easy to do well in school.I know a lot of you havechallenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.我自然知道要做到学业优秀并非总是易事。我知道你们许多人在生活中面临挑战，难以集中精力从事学业。I get it.I know what its like.My father left my family when I was two years old,andI was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay thebills and wasnt always able to give us the things that other kids had.There weretimes when I missed having a father in my life.There were times when I was lonelyand I felt like I didnt fit in.我明白这一点。我有亲身感受。两岁时，我父亲离家而去，我是由一位单亲母亲抚养成人的，母亲不得不工作，并时常为支付生活费用而苦苦挣扎，但有时仍无法为我们提供其他孩子享有的东西。有时，我渴望生活中能有一位父亲。有时我感到孤独，感到自己不适应社会。So I wasnt always as focused as I should have been on school,and I did some thingsIm not proud of,and I got in more trouble than I should have.And my life could haveeasily taken a turn for the worse.我并非总是像我应该做到的那样专心学习，我也曾做过我如今不能引以为豪的一些事情，我曾惹过不应该惹的麻烦。我的人生原本会轻易陷入更糟糕的境地。But I was-I was lucky.I got a lot of second chances,and I had the opportunity to goto college and law school and follow my dreams.My wife,our First Lady MichelleObama,she has a similar story.Neither of her parents had gone to college,and theydidnt have a lot of money.But they worked hard,and she worked hard,so that shecould go to the best schools in this country.但是，我当年际遇不错。我有过许多第二次时机，我有幸能上大学，上法学院，追求自己的理想。我的妻子，我们的第一夫人米歇尔?奥巴马，也有着类似的经历。她的父母都未曾上过大学，家里很穷。但他们非常勤奋，她也是如此，因此她得以进入一些美国最好的学校。Some of you might not have those advantages.Maybe you dont have adults in yourlife who give you the support that you need.Maybe someone in your family has losttheir job and theres not enough money to go around.Maybe you live in aneighborhood where you dont feel safe,or have friends who are pressuring you to dothings you know arent right.你们中有一些人可能没有那些有利条件。或许你们生活中没有成年人为你们提供你们所需要的支持。或许你们家中有人失业，经济非常拮据。或许你们生活在使你们感觉不平安的社区，或有朋友逼迫你们去做你们知道不对的事情。But at the end of the day,the circumstances of your life-what you look like,whereyou come from,how much money you have,what youve got going on at home-none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude inschool.Thats no excuse for talking back to your teacher,or cutting class,or droppingout of school.There is no excuse for not trying.然而说到底，你们生活的环境、你们的肤色、你们的原籍、你们的经济收入、你们家中的境况等等，这一切都不能成为你们不用功或不努力的理由。你们没有理由不服从你们的老师、逃学、或辍学。没有理由不付出努力。Where you are right now doesnt have to determine where youll end up.No oneswritten your destiny for you,because here in America,you write your own destiny.You make your own future.你们目前的状况并不决定着你们的未来。没有人决定你们的命运，在美国，你们决定自己的命运。你们掌握自己的未来。Thats what young people like you are doing every day,all across America.这就是像你们这样的年轻人每天都在做的事情，全美各地都是如此。Young people like Jazmin Perez,from Roma,Texas.Jazmin didnt speak Englishwhen she first started school.Neither of her parents had gone to college.But sheworked hard,earned good grades,and got a scholarship to Brown University-is nowin graduate school,studying public health,on her way to becoming Dr.Jazmin Perez.来自得州罗马城的贾兹敏 佩雷斯Jazmin Perez就是一个例证，她刚开始上学时并不会说英文。她的父母都没有上过大学。然而，她非常勤奋，成绩优秀，获得了布朗大学的奖学金，她如今正在读研究生，攻读公共卫生专业，不久将成为贾兹敏 佩雷斯博士。Im thinking about Andoni Schultz,from Los Altos,California,whos fought braincancer since he was three.Hes had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries,oneof which affected his memory,so it took him much longer-hundreds of extra hours-to do his schoolwork.But he never fell behind.Hes headed to college this fall.我想起了加州洛斯阿尔托斯城的安多尼 舒尔茨Andoni Schultz，他从三岁开始就一直与脑癌进行抗争，他不得不忍受各类治疗和手术带来的痛苦，其中一项手术曾影响了他的记忆，因此他花在功课上的时间比一般人长得多，要多出数百个小时。然而，他从未落后。他今年秋季将迈进大学。And then theres Shantell Steve,from my hometown of Chicago,Illinois.Even whenbouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city,she managed to get a job at a local health care center,start a program to keep youngpeople out of gangs,and shes on track to graduate high school with honors and go onto college.我还想起家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔 史蒂夫Shantell Steve。她曾在芝加哥最困难的社区生活，寄养于多个不同的家庭，但她最终在一家地方医疗中心找到工作，并开始了一项帮助年轻人远离流氓团伙的方案，她即将以优异成绩从中学毕业，紧接着将上大学。And Jazmin,Andoni,and Shantell arent any different from any of you.They facechallenges in their lives just like you do.In some cases theyve got it a lot worse offthan many of you.But they refused to give up.They chose to take responsibility fortheir lives,for their education,and set goals for themselves.And I expect all of you todo the same.贾兹敏、安多尼和尚特尔与你们中间的每个人没什么两样。跟你们一样，他们在生活中面临种种挑战。在某些情况下，他们的处境比起你们许多人更差。但他们拒绝放弃。他们决定要为自己的一生、自己的教育负起责任，为自己设定各项奋斗目标。我期待你们大家都会这样做。Thats why today Im calling on each of you to se t your own goals for your education-and do everything you can to meet them.Your goal can be something as simple asdoing all your homework,paying attention in class,or spending some time each dayreading a book.Maybe youll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity,orvolunteer in your community.Maybe youll decide to stand up for kids who are beingteased or bullied because of who they are or how they look,because you believe,like Ido,that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn.Maybeyoull decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.Andalong those lines,by the way,I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot,and thatyou stay home from school when you dont feel well,so we can keep people fromgetting the flu this fall and winter.因此，我今天呼吁你们每一个人为自己的教育设定目标，并尽自己的最大努力来实现这些目标。你的目标可以是一件十分简单的事情，例如完成家庭作业、上课专心听讲、或每天花一点时间读一本书。也许你会决定要参加课外活动或在你的社区提供志愿效劳。也许你会决定挺身而出保护那些因为身份或长相而受人戏弄或欺负的孩子，原因是你和我一样认为所有的年轻人都应该享有一个适合读书和学习的平安环境。也许你会决定更好地照料自己，以便有更充分的精力来学习。顺便提一下，除了这些事情外，我希望大家要勤洗手，身体感到不舒服的时候要呆在家里不去上学，这样我们能防止人们在今年秋冬季节染上流感。But whatever you resolve to do,I want you to commit to it.I want you to really workat it.但无论你决定做什么，我希望你保证去做。我希望你脚踏实地地去做。I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successfulwithout any hard work-that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketballor being a reality TV star.Chances are youre not going to be any of those things.我知道有时候你会从电视上得到这样的印象：你不用做任何艰苦的工作就能发财致富并取得成功，唱小调、打篮球或成为真人秀明星是走向成功的途径。但实际情况是：你可能不会成为其中的一员。The truth is,being successful is hard.You wont love every subject that you study.You wont click with every teacher thatyou have.Not every homework assignmentwill seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute.And you wontnecessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.事实上，取得成功不是轻而易举的事情。你不会喜欢你学习的每一门课目。你不会与你的每一位老师都很投契。不是所有的家庭作业似乎都与你眼前的生活完全有关。你第一次尝试做每件事的时候，不一定成功。Thats okay.Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones whove hadthe most failures.J.K.Rowlings-who wrote Harry Potter-her first Harry Potterbook was rejected 12 times before it was finally published.Michael Jordan was cutfrom his high school basketball team.He lost hundreds of games and missedthousands of shots during his career.But he once said,“I have failed over and overand over again in my life.And thats why I succeed.这些都没关系。世界上最成功的人士中有一些是遭遇失败最多的人。作者J.K.罗琳J.K.Rowling所写的系列小说?哈利 波特?Harry Potter第一部在获得出版之前被退稿 12 次。迈克尔?乔丹Michael Jordan曾被他的高中篮球队除名。在乔丹的篮球生涯中，他输过数百场比赛，有成千上万个球没有投中。但他曾说过：“在我的一生中，我失败了一次又一次、一次又一次。这就是我成功的原因。These people succeeded because they understood that you cant let your failuresdefine you-you have to let your failures teach you.You have to let them show youwhat to do differently the next time.So if you get into trouble,that doesnt meanyoure a troublemaker,it means you need to try harder to act right.If you get a badgrade,that doesnt mean youre stupid,it just means you need to spend more timestudying.这些人士获得成功，因为他们懂得：你不能让失败来限制你，而必须让失败来开导你。你必须让失败向你展示下次如何以不同的方式去做这件事情。因此，如果你遇到麻烦，那并不表示你是麻烦的制造者，而意味着你需要更加努力去把它做对。如果你有一门课分数低，那不表示你比别人笨，而只表示你需要花更多的时间学习。No ones born being good at all things.You become good at things through hard work.Youre not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport.You dont hit everynote the first time you sing a song.Youve got to practice.The same principle appliesto your schoolwork.You might have to do a math problem a few times before you getit right.You might have to read something a fe